Romania's Richest Man Cleared in Fraud Case :: Balkan Insight

After six years of court proceedings, a court in Bucharest on Tuesday cleared businessman Dinu Patriciu of all charges in a multi-case trial that was widely seen as a test of Romania?s ability to conduct high-level corruption trials.

Eleven other defendants tried in the same case were also found not guilty. The decision may be appealed.

Patriciu, well known as Romania?s richest person and as the founder of the country?s second largest company, Rompetrol, was indicted in 2006 on a wide range of charges including fraud and money laundering.

He was investigated by prosecutors alongside other company officials also for manipulating the stock exchange by underselling company shares and buying them back successively.

Patriciu was also accused of illegally cashing assets stemming from a Libyan deal worth 85 million US dollars for the company instead of turning them over to the state.

He has always denied wrongdoing, saying that he would stand to lost most if he had sold his company's stock too cheaply. He also claims that the Libyan assets belonged to his company, and not to the state.

Patriciu has claimed also that the investigation is politically motivated.

A Bucharest court in 2007 court ruled that Romania's spy agency illegally tapped his phones of and those of his company and awarded him 25,000 US dollars in damages.

Rompetrol has also sued Romania for 100 million dollars in an international arbitration court, claiming that the investigation was abusive and was damaging its business.

Patriciu sold his stake in Rompetrol in 2008 to Kazakhstan?s state-owned energy operator KazMunaiGaz for around 2.7 billion dollars, according to media reports.

Since then he has invested in media companies, energy, real estate, banking and a failed chain of convenience stores.

Source: http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/romania-s-richest-man-cleared-in-fraud-case

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